How 17 clubs missed out on Hawthorn Hawks star Jai Newcombe

In theory, any of the 18 clubs could have uncovered Jai Newcombe in the wilds of South Gippsland, and called out in his name in the national draft nearly five years ago, or invited him to training over summer and signed him in pre-season.

But to draft Newcombe, they would’ve had to see him play first.

Newcombe was a case of a rare jewel that the system missed – at least at first. Clubs overlooked him because he didn’t play in the elite under-18 competition now known as the Coates Talent League.

So, if you’re wondering why your club failed to pick up this bloke, who is probably Hawthorn’s premier player in the absence of Will Day and their best finals player over 2024-25, don’t blame the hapless recruiters. They didn’t underestimate or misjudge his talent.

They didn’t see him at all.

Newcombe didn’t make the squad at his elite under-18 team, the Gippsland Power, in his first year of draft eligibility, 2019.

In those key teen years, the robust, powerful ex-apprentice carpenter – subsequently called “a beast” by teammate Jack Ginnivan – was smaller than the midfield norm.

“Late bloomer, small when I was 16 to 18,” Newcombe said this week, when asked why it took so long for him to be discovered. “Fighting for positions I guess were already taken by better players at that time. It’s just how the cookie crumbled for me.”

At 18, he had played seniors in his home town of Poowong – perhaps best known for producing renowned writer Don Watson – and did enough for the Power to add him to the squad as a 19-year-old (they are allowed limited over-age players).

Alas, COVID-19 deprived him – and an entire generation his age – of showing their wares during 2020.

Like Fremantle key forward Josh Treacy, whose senior year at Bendigo Pioneers was wiped out, Newcombe was pushed off the radar of AFL clubs by the shutdown of football in Victoria (Treacy, who had played under 18s in 2019, was belatedly picked up in the rookie draft).

Several recruiters contacted by this masthead had the same story on Newcombe – you can’t pick a player if you’re unaware of his existence.

“There’s nowhere to go and watch him,” said one veteran scout of the 2020 draft in which Newcombe nominated but wasn’t considered by any club.

Hawthorn’s great break was that a) Newcombe found his way to the Box Hill Hawks, their VFL affiliate, in 2021; b) that Box Hill were coached then by Sam Mitchell, and c) that they kept a pick in the mid-season draft and had the second choice.

North Melbourne, thus, were the only club in that mid-season draft – which isn’t usually a breeding ground for superstars – which had an opportunity to pick Newcombe; the Roos, like others, were enamoured with a tall, athletic Sandringham Dragons ruck/forward Jacob Edwards, who lasted only two full years in the AFL.

As with his future senior coach Mitchell, Newcombe was an immediate standout midfielder with Box Hill and was in the sights of a number of clubs, to the point that his recruitment prompted a rule change.

Whereas most players are happy simply to be picked up, Newcombe was in sufficient demand that he could nominate financial terms for the mid-year draft – a stance that Hawthorn were more than comfortable with.

His asking price was a 30-month contract and a deal that peaked at a base of $170,000, plus match payments and games incentives. Hawthorn, as rivals acknowledge, deserve credit for landing a gun midfielder essentially for close to zero draft cost.

The crucial step was Newcombe finding his way to Box Hill, where Mitchell and the recruiters could see him close up.

In the Hawthorn version, some credit is granted to a 150-game ex-Richmond midfielder, Nathan Foley – then employed by Hawthorn in managing their next generation academy (NGA) – for Newcombe’s arrival.

Loading

In a game where such successes have many claims of paternity, Foley downplayed his own role in Newcombe’s landing.

Newcombe, as Foley recounted, had missed the 2020 season, then turned up at pre-season with the Warragul Seagulls, whose coach, Dean Alger (father of first year Richmond player Jasper Alger) had seen enough of Newcombe in training/match practice to recommend him.

“This guy’s a really good player,” Alger told Foley. “Can he get a go at Box Hill?”

“I related that to the GM of Box Hill at the time (Dan Napoli).”

Box Hill, as it turned out, had kept some data on Newcombe. They did not hesitate to take him. It didn’t hurt either club or player that the imminent next senior coach, Mitchell, was coaching the VFL club four years ago.

If his journey to the AFL was slow off the mark, Newcombe’s progress at Hawthorn was rapid. His power from out of stoppages was apparent, and his disposal has steadily improved. The Hawks had also discovered that Newcombe, who played his 100th game last week, had excellent endurance for a physically solid midfielder.

Asked if there was a chip on his chippy’s shoulder that drove him, he said this week: “It definitely helps, you do have a point to prove with certain things, a small little motivator that will always be there, it helps with my motivation and trying to get the best out of myself.”

Click here to read article